Torture by proxy?

Kevin Hayden, the evil genius behind Open Source Politics, has launched a new group blog called The American Street. I’ll be posting every Tuesday.

My first contribution, Torture by Proxy? is up now. It discusses the case of Meher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen suspected — apparently on no very firm basis — of ties to al-Qaeda — whom the U.S. government shipped off to Syria for ten month’s worth of interrogation. Apparently the Syrian secret police promised Attorney General Ashcroft they wouldn’t torture Arar, and he believed them. (He says he still does.)

Arar is now back in Canada, charged with nothing.

I’m not certain of the facts here, but I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t be sending the Syrian torture machine new victims.